Cardinal McElroy of Washington, D.C., diagnosed with cancer, but prognosis ‘good’

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 5, 2025 / 11:11 am (CNA).

Cardinal Robert McElroy, the 71-year-old archbishop of Washington, D.C., has been diagnosed with cancer but has a good prognosis for recovery, according to an archdiocesan announcement on Wednesday morning, Nov. 5.

According to the statement, McElroy’s cancer will be surgically removed on Nov. 13, and his doctors “are in consensus that his prognosis is very good.”

“The precise diagnosis is that Cardinal McElroy has well-differentiated liposarcoma, which is a nonaggressive cancer that tends not to metastasize,” the statement read.

“Last night Cardinal McElroy spoke with the priests of the archdiocese about this diagnosis during their annual convocation and said to them that ‘I am at peace with this challenge and hope and believe that in God’s grace I will be archbishop of Washington for many years to come. I ask your prayers and support in these days and plan to resume full duties two weeks after the surgery,’” the statement added.

McElroy was installed as archbishop of the nation’s capital on March 11 following an appointment by Pope Francis. He was made a cardinal in 2022 while serving as bishop of the Diocese of San Diego.

The cardinal, who holds a doctorate in sacred theology and a doctorate in political science, assumed his role less than two months after President Donald Trump took office as president for the second time.

Although he wished the president well, McElroy strongly criticized Trump’s plan for mass deportations of immigrants who are in the country illegally, saying on Jan. 6 that “we are called always to have a sense of the dignity of every human person.”

“And thus, plans which have been talked about at some levels of having a wider indiscriminate massive deportation across the country would be something that would be incompatible with Catholic doctrine,” McElroy said at the time. “So we’ll have to see what emerges in the administration.”

In a Sept. 28 homily, McElroy urged Catholics to embrace migrants “in a sustained, unwavering, prophetic, and compassionate way” and to “stand in solidarity with the undocumented men and women whose lives are being upended by the government’s campaign of fear and terror.”

The cardinal referred to the ongoing deportations as “an unprecedented assault upon millions of immigrant men and women and families in our midst.”

“We are witnessing a comprehensive governmental assault designed to produce fear and terror among millions of men and women who have through their presence in our nation been nurturing precisely the religious, cultural, communitarian, and familial bonds that are most frayed and most valuable at this moment in our country’s history,” McElroy said.

McElroy’s comments came as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops continued to feud with the Trump administration over its immigration policy. Specifically, the bishops have expressed concern about the scale of deportations and the administration’s decision to rescind a rule that restricted immigration enforcement at houses of worship.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told CNA in July that enforcement at a house of worship would be “extremely rare,” adding: “Our officers use discretion. Officers would need secondary supervisor approval before any action can be taken in locations such as a church or a school.”